Football notes from the Kimball Area Cubs Co-Head coach Jason Mortenson

This was interesting, it's always good to see what's being said and done in other schools' athletic programs. The following was published in the Tri-County News (Kimball newspaper) on November 5.

The Kimball Cubs football team lost their first round of play-offs to Maple Lake. Sadly, we looked like the team from the first half of the season rather than the team from the second half. The offense was led in rushing by Travis Schiefelbein, with 20 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown. Aaron Laabs had three completions out of 12 attempts for four yards and three interceptions. Defensively, Kimball was led by Tyler Loch with 10 tackles, followed by Danny Lochen and Mitch Pramaan with seven tackles each. Travis Wills and Austin Schlueter each had a sack as well.

Since the season is done, please let me take this opportunity to thank the athletes and parents for their efforts this season. We knew from the beginning it would be a tough season because of our age and inexperience. Believe me, it was harder for me psychologically than I thought it would be. But that is why I kept telling myself that it is hard to ask a junior varsity team to compete with a varsity team. By age that is what we were.

The coaches are now meeting with players individually to talk about the season and to discuss how to improve for next year. We tell all our athletes to be involved in other activities and if they are not, then they NEED to hit the weight room.

As parents, please discuss the meeting with your son. Let's prepare them for their next season as well as our season next fall. Genetics can only take them so far, but athletes can always get stronger and faster. With the experience (good and bad) that the boys gained this year, along with getting faster and stronger, will only help the team next year. Let's face it, if we do nothing, can we really expect different results?